Agronomist Consultant, High Value Crop (HVC) Production at One Acre Fund

About the Consultancy Engagement

• Programme: HVC Production, Long Rains 2027 (LR27)
• Crop: Chilli, Groundnut, Sunflower, Soybean and Chia
• Engagement: Individual consultant, part-time and deliverable-based
• Level of effort: Up to 15 days in total (up to 10 days of core work, plus up to 5 days of as-needed in-season support)
• Timing: Core work over about 3-4 weeks, ahead of the LR27 season
• Reports to: HVC Production Lead (or designated representative)

Tupande is preparing to scale up its HVC Production programme for the Long Rains 2027 season. We are looking for an experienced agronomist with deep, hands-on expertise in Chilli, Groundnut, Sunflower, Soybean and Chia.  You will bring the crop-specific knowledge our team needs to produce a technical reference, strengthen our extension materials and build field-staff capability.

This is an assignment for one individual consultant not a firm or consulting team.

Terms of Reference

Crop technical production manual (up to 5 days). This will be Asili’s single technical reference for the crop. It will cover:

• crop overview, varieties, planting windows and yield benchmarks;
• site selection, soil requirements and rotation;
• crop stages, with what good and poor performance look like and how to recover;
• the standard input package;
• a pest and disease library with management guidance;
• harvest and quality standards;
• a consolidated thresholds and decision table, structured so it can be built directly into a monitoring dashboard.
• Recommendations must be evidence-based and must clearly separate established evidence, local experience and provisional judgement. Any chemical recommendations must comply with current Kenyan registration and label requirements, including rates, PPE, PHI/REI and MRLs.
• Extension materials review (up to 3 days). You will review our planting cards, farmer guides, staff training presentations and quizzes against the manual. You will return them with tracked changes or comments, plus a summary of the main changes needed.
• 2-day staff bootcamp. You will train about 20 Production and field staff, including time in the field. This includes a short end-of-bootcamp assessment. The target is for every participant to score at least 80%, with a plan to close any gaps.
• In-season technical support (as needed, up to 5 days). You will answer crop-specific questions, such as pest and disease outbreaks or at-risk fields. You will also recommend updates to the manual based on field experience.

Qualifications

• Degree in Agronomy, Crop Science, Agricultural Sciences or a related field. A postgraduate qualification is an advantage.
• Proven, in-depth experience with any of the 5 options (Chilli, Groundnut, Sunflower, Soybean and Chia)  through field work, research or both. General agricultural experience alone is not enough.
• Experience writing crop manuals, production guides or technical standards.
• Experience working with smallholder farmers and turning technical recommendations into practical field advice.
• Practical knowledge of pest and disease management for the crop in Kenya.
• Experience training field staff or extension workers.
• Valid registration with the relevant professional body in Kenya, where applicable.

Ground rules

• All outputs belong to Tupande and non-public programme information and farmer data must be kept confidential.
• Applicants must declare any current or recent (last 3 years) financial, employment, consultancy or advisory relationships with input companies, crop buyers or processors.
• Recommendations must be product-neutral, based on active ingredients, nutrient content or performance specifications rather than brand names.